Seychelles votes in presidential run-off

Voters queue to cast their ballots for the presidential elections in Victoria, the capital of the Indian Ocean archipelago of the Seychelles, on December 16, 2015 (AFP Photo/Rassin Vannier)

Victoria (Seychelles) (AFP) - Residents in the Indian Ocean archipelago of the Seychelles voted Thursday, the second of three days of polls, with incumbent president James Michel facing the first serious challenge to his decade-long rule.

Michel, 71, who is seeking a third five-year term, was forced into a second-round run-off against opposition leader Wavel Ramkalawan after falling short of an outright majority in the first round in early December, winning just under 48 percent.

Ramkalawan, 54, an Anglican priest who took 34 percent of the vote on his fifth run at the country's top job, now has the backing of the second runner-up, Patrick Pillay, a former foreign and health minister, who won almost 15 percent.

Voting on the most remote islands began Wednesday and continued Thursday, with the main vote due Friday on the main islands of Mahe, Praslin and La Digue, home to most of the Seychelles' estimated 91,000 citizens.

"Voting in general went according to plan," the election commission said in a statement describing polling on the first day, noting "some complaints" that at some voting stations campaigning was being done in the queues.

Tourism and fisheries are the pillars of the Seychelles' economy, with its white-sand beaches and tropical forests a favourite with well-heeled newly-weds.

A former British colony, the Seychelles is made up of 115 islands lying off the coast of east Africa, some scattered up to 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) from the capital Victoria.

Turnout was high in the first round, at over 87 percent, the electoral commission said.